


2018: Return to Justice

by CadyWimzie



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Gen, I wasnt prepared for the warm feelings the Shield boys gave me at this event, Musing, Nothing Hurts, Wholesome brotherly feelings, post-show, reassurance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-26 01:29:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16209818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CadyWimzie/pseuds/CadyWimzie
Summary: Post Super Show-Down. Roman is torn between fretting over the physical well-being of both of his brothers and feeling like he has something to apologize for. Dean quells both worryandsuspicion the way only he can.





	2018: Return to Justice

_Oh_ , did his jaw ache. Two short years came and went, and Dean had somehow miraculously managed to forget what this hellish pain inflicted on his face felt like in that time.

...only to be reminded of it just an hour ago.

Lucky him. 

He meant that in the most sincere way. Pacing and winding his arm the way he normally did wasn't out of the question (literally, it wasn't, since he was actively doing it right there in the listless hallway while he awaited word from his brothers), but it  _wasn't_  because he had anything left pent up. Definitely not.

Of course he had more to give; he always did. Right now wasn't about that.

Right now wasn't about  _him_. Not after Roman and Seth both made it so in the ring a little earlier and saved his skin  _twice_  (once each). He wanted to repay them in kind, and he was pretty sure he had with the win. The only thing he had left to worry about was whether they were as okay as they repeatedly said they were.

It hadn't been his own idea to be assessed by medical staff. Roman insisted on that one, and it had been mostly for Seth's sake. Sure, he took just as much care with Dean and insisted for him as well, and Dean complied, and the guy in the white coat was like...

_He's... perfectly fine? It was a patented Superman Punch; somebody gets a mouthful of it every week. I watched Seth put this guy's face through cinder blocks once. Isn't he kinda indestructible?_

Okay, so maybe the dude didn't actually say  _those words_ exactly. Maybe those were the words Dean used to deflect Roman's concern before he even entered the room to  _get_  assessed. For the record, he had been one-hundred percent correct in the area of being cleared for further in-ring action. Sadly, a lot of the cleverness was lost to a pain-induced slur. It didn't help with making Roman stop worrying, predictably.

"See? He said I'm fine," Dean had said, on his way out of the room. Roman looked less worried after that, but something still appeared to be bothering him. Dean had a hunch about what that something was, but in all honesty, he would have rather been viewed as inept than believe Roman was beating himself up over...  _that_.

That was hardly important now.

Lord, his jaw ached. 

~-~

 

As it stood, Seth had gotten the most taken out of him during the match. It made sense, with him being in the ring for as long as he was with no one to tag.

But, Seth being who he was, few could match the endurance he put on display. Neither of them were hurt. None of them were hurt. An argument could have been made that he recovered mid-match, and Roman would have certainly believed it in spite of how little he could relate.

He hadn't gotten up after that Spear through the barricade. Not right away, and definitely not on his own. It was Dean who got the pin and then wasted little time coming over and picking him up off the floor, slinging his arm over his shoulders and helping him walk. A title proudly donned and legs wobbly. Dean only cared for one of the two of those details, and it was very likely the same care that led him to stand outside the door to the trainer's room, fidgety and distracted out of necessity, when Roman and Seth stepped outside to meet him.

"Hey, what's the 411?" he asked, tucking his dog tags into his vest so fast that Roman almost missed it. It made him think back to the previous Monday, when he removed them from around his neck and was swinging them about in idleness while he talked to Corbin, like he may or may not have been thinking about just how much they were worth to him.

"Everything's good," Roman answered, aware he probably looked a little distracted in his own right. He turned his head, feeling his attention getting divided again as he spoke Seth's way. "I mean, if  _you're_ good. I'm good, so."

"No complaints here," Seth said, through a gradually growing grin and a cleansing sigh. " _You're_ the one Dean needed to scrape off the floor," he added as a second thought, nudging the older in the side. "You should be in pieces still, man. It's too bad you're the Big Dog and this was just playtime for you, 'uh?"

"This was... actually pretty rough," Roman admitted, as they started their walk down the hall. His index finger ran over the shiny plating on the belt slung over his shoulder. He gave Dean another look out of the corner of his eye. "And, uh... Dean?"

"Mm?" It didn't take closer inspection for Roman to notice his brother was holding the black face mask he entered the stadium in, looking it over while he walked. Not even paying attention to him now.

"I'm sorry for what happened," he said, taking haste. He saw Seth glance their way when the apology was said, but no words left him. "I screwed up. I didn't want you to think it happened because of... something else. Some  _other_  reason. I'm not gonna lie, man, I was panicking."

Dean stared straight ahead now. The hand holding the mask swung at his side, and his lips were pursed in contemplation-- or a mock of such an expression.

"Hmmmm. You didn't conceal it very well, I gotta say, compadre. You weren't try'na fool anybody."

He paused and looked past Roman, who opted to stay silent. Seth was no different in terms of muteness. 

"I know you didn't mean to do it, brotha. Need I remind you it isn't the first time you caught me on accident?" A grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. Roman's brows furrowed in confusion, whereas Seth threw his head back in exaggerated fashion and groaned. "Remember when you broke my rib?"

"Broke your--" A dawning look of comprehension crossed the older's face, as Dean swaggered ahead with a very pleased, very _ruffled_ smile on that made dimples form.

"Oh, shut _up_ ," Roman said, squinting his eyes and shaking his head at him in reproach.

Dean refastened the mask to his face and turned around to face them head-on, walking backwards. "Except, you know, _that time_ I'm pretty sure you secretly meant to do it," he teased, waving his arms in front of him in taunt until Roman seized one of them.

"You're full of it."

Dean made a single, feeble move to dodge, but one wrist was all Roman really needed anyway. He got pulled in and snagged around the neck by a free arm in little time, and for a few moments their walk was put on hold. The top of his head was getting playfully scuffed by Roman's nails, and what started as a show of squirming halfheartedly to get away became just standing still and taking it without fight. It didn't take long for the action to slow.

"Eh, there's no hair to ruffle anymore." He continued to move his hand over the soft, short hairs anyway, like he was searching for longer follicles of the stuff.  

"Doesn't mean you gotta stop," Dean pointed out, barely struggling.

Roman made a face and lightly pushed him away, sending him stumbling comically into a reinitiated walking gait.

"Bringin' up that TLC Spear shit," he muttered, making Dean laugh behind the mask. The muffled sound brought a smile to Roman's face.

"Is it over?"

He looked to his right and smirked at Seth, who was watching Dean circle back around to walk with them again through the spaces between his shielding fingers. He put an arm behind the younger's head and pulled it in, bumping it against his affectionately. Seth administered a few rough pats to his back as they started moving again, automatically correcting each other's stumbles and falters when they occurred.

 

~-~

 

They had a discussion later about Dean's suspicious halting on the ropes and the shifty eyes he made during. His hesitation to join them in the middle, _hold ground_ , and even the odds right away, without a second thought.

"What was with the face, Dean?" Seth asked, more or less casual, caught between gathering his things and looking to his brother.

"That's just how my eyes look," Dean explained, sounding more than a little defensive. He continued to glare until Seth swiveled and moved to grab his sweater; the younger wobbled and clutched at his fatigued, racked self instead. Dean shot a hand out to steady him without thinking about it, the presumed anger in his eyes long gone.

"Hey." Their eyes met. Dean moved his hand up to his brother's shoulder and squeezed. "Believe in The Shield."

Seth nodded and hit his fist against the one Dean held out last minute, unsmiling but unable to find it in him to pester Dean about potential traitorous behavior when all he truly felt coming from him-- in _waves_ \-- was unabashed care. Something that didn't need to be _said_ for all the want for proof in the world, when actions spoke so much louder.

"Believe in The Shield, Ambrose."   

**Author's Note:**

> Whoo, I hope this was accurate. I intend to rewatch the match soon, 'cause it was bomb, but everything I wrote here was based on my first viewing of the events that took place at SSD. I loved it to bits. ;-;
> 
> I made a reference to the 2013 TLC match where Roman accidentally Speared Dean, because his mistake at this more recent event made me think back to it. I also referenced his and Dean's tournament final match at Survivor Series in 2015 closer to the beginning, where he actually _meant_ to Superman Punch him.
> 
> This match really made me think back to the good ol' Shield days. Happy feelings all around (even if this issue with Dean being disloyal isn't over).


End file.
